Written questions by Stephenson.

Communities and Local Government, if she will publish a digital, publicly available map of Tree Protection Orders.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 35438 on 12 March 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what local taxes she intends for Mayors to be able to levy.

The English Devolution White Paper sets out an enhanced Devolution Framework. This will be available by default rather than by deal, to both existing and new strategic authorities, creating a consistent, systematic approach and providing Mayor’s with the power to decide what is right for their areas. This framework includes the ability for all Mayoral Strategic Authorities to introduce mayoral precepting on council tax and the ability to raise a Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy to fund strategic infrastructure once a Spatial Development Strategy is in place.

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2025 to Written Question 43758 on NHS England, how any short-term upfront costs incurred will be funded.

Detailed plans are being formulated by a joint Department and NHS England programme team. The remit of work includes formulation of the relevant costs and securing the required funding. Funding conversations between the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, and HM Treasury are ongoing. Further detail on the costs and funding mechanisms will be provided as this work develops.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make a comparative assessment of the number of houses built on functional floodplains in (a) the UK and (b) the G7 in the last decade.

The Government has committed to ensure we are building more high-quality, well-designed and sustainable homes and creating places that increase climate resilience and promote nature recovery. Flood risk is an important consideration in the planning system. The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided by directing development away from areas at highest risk, including floodplains. Where development is necessary, and where there are no suitable sites available in areas with a lower risk of flooding, local planning authorities and developers should ensure development is appropriately flood resilient and resistant, safe for its users for the development’s lifetime, will not increase flood risk overall and will provide wider sustainability benefits. There are different approaches in defining and managing flood risk and floodplains, and in recording residential and non-residential developments between nations.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's press release entitled England’s non-woodland trees freely mapped for first time, published on 5 April 2025, whether his Department plans to use this mapping to identify trees which are not currently protected by tree protection orders.

The Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment programme’s Trees outside Woodlands (ToW) map identifies the location, distribution and cover of trees, small groups of trees and small woodlands (less than 0.5 hectares) in England, and enables citizens, communities and local authorities to identify trees outside woodland in their local area for the first time. Local authorities hold information on the Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) in their area and can choose how this information is disseminated, of which some choose to do so through mapping. Members of the public can contact their local authority to check the TPOs in their local area. Local authorities are responsible for TPOs and may use the ToW map as a tool to cross-reference with their records.

If he will make it his policy that hon. Members are formally consulted before Government decisions which would have a particular impact on their constituency are made.

The Government recognises the importance of engagement with MPs when making policy decisions. Honorable Members already have a variety of levers in Parliament by which they can engage Ministers on policies affecting their constituencies. There are no plans to change these existing arrangements. .

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Hundreds of quangos to be examined for potential closure as Government takes back control, published on 7 April 2025, whether that review will consider Arms Length Bodies created since July 2024.

The review will cover all existing arm’s-length bodies (ALBs), and includes proposals for new ALBs.

How many Arms Length Bodies have been created since July 2024.

Cabinet Office maintains records and oversight of formally established Arm’s Length Bodies. As stated in my previous answer of 8 January 2025, no ALBs have been formally established since 4 July 2024.

If he will make an assessment of the return on investment of GREAT campaign funding in each year since it was introduced.

Since 2011, the GREAT campaign has developed a robust approach to evaluation, which has been validated by multiple external organisations, and consistently reported strong returns to the UK economy. The methodologies used continue to be reviewed and refined to support regular reporting, ensuring the campaign consistently drives good impact and value for money for the taxpayer.

With reference to the press release entitled PM tells councils to prove action on pothole plague to unlock extra cash and reveals £4.8 billion for major roads, published on 23 March 2025, whether her Department has made an estimate of the potential cost of publishing details by local authorities.

The additional costs to local highway authorities of complying with the Department’s new reporting requirements are likely to be minimal. The Department has made clear that it is looking for short reports in plain English, to be published on authorities’ websites, and it has provided templates for these to make the task simpler. It is only right that local highway authorities should be held to account in this way for their use of the £500 million of additional highway maintenance funding in the current financial year.

With reference to the press notice entitled PM tells councils to prove action on pothole plague to unlock extra cash and reveals £4.8 billion for major roads, published on 23 March 2025, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing information on councils' progress in mending potholes centrally.

In the first instance it will be up to local highway authorities to publish their progress reports on their own websites, as set out in the Department’s letter of 24 March to local authority chief executive officers which is available on gov.uk. The Department will review authorities’ reports and determine in due course what information to publish centrally.

If she will make an estimate of the number of pensioners who paid income tax in the 2024-25 financial year.

HMRC publishes the number of income tax payers by age. An estimate of the number of individuals of state pension age who are income taxpayers in financial year 2024/25 can be found in Table 2.1 of the income tax statistics and distributions collection published on 27 June 2024. This document is available here:Table 2.1 Number of individual Income Tax payers - GOV.UKFrom the above an estimated 8.51 million state pension age individuals paid tax in financial year 2024/25.Data on individuals paying income tax in future years will be published in the usual way.

If she will make an estimate of the number of pensioners who will be paying income tax in the 2029-30 financial year.

HMRC publishes the number of income tax payers by age. An estimate of the number of individuals of state pension age who are income taxpayers in financial year 2024/25 can be found in Table 2.1 of the income tax statistics and distributions collection published on 27 June 2024. This document is available here:Table 2.1 Number of individual Income Tax payers - GOV.UKFrom the above an estimated 8.51 million state pension age individuals paid tax in financial year 2024/25.Data on individuals paying income tax in future years will be published in the usual way.

What steps her Department plans to take with Great British Railways to reduce levels of disruption on railways.

GBR will be a directing mind, running the railways as one system, with a relentless focus on passengers. Track and train will be unified, creating a more efficient and reliable system meeting passenger and freight customers’ needs and ensuring value for the taxpayer.

With reference to paragraph 2.72 of the Spring Statement 2025, whether any of the Technical Excellence Colleges will be in Bedfordshire.

The department can confirm that there will be at least one construction Technical Excellence College for the East of England region but cannot confirm exactly where in the region it will be based, at this stage. Further information on Technical Excellence Colleges will be made available in due course.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the (a) Digswell Viaduct and (b) Welwyn North Station on levels of capacity on the East Coast Main Line.

An assessment of the impact of Digswell Viaduct and Welwyn North Station on capacity levels on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) was completed by Network Rail whilst developing the timetable that will be introduced on the ECML in December 2025. The Minister has approved this timetable for implementation, following an industry taskforce recommendation to do so, to enable the full benefits of a £4 billion investment in the route.

What discussions she has had with the Governor of the Bank of England on her economic growth policies.

The Chancellor and the Governor of the Bank of England meet regularly to discuss economic developments and the outlook for the economy. Growth is the number one mission of this government and is how we will get people into good jobs, drive higher living standards, and increase productivity across the country. At Mansion House in November 2024 the Chancellor issued new growth-focused remit letters to the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, Financial Policy Committee, and Prudential Regulation Committee. These letters made clear that the Chancellor expects them to fully support this government’s ambitions on economic growth.

With reference to line items 24 and 25 on p.33 of the Spring Statement, for what reason the levy revenue used is greater than the levy revenue generated.

As set out in the Policy Costings document, published at Spring Statement, the costing is calculated by applying the levy rates to forecasted leviable Gross Gambling Yields for each licence type using data from the Gambling Commission Industry Statistics. This gives the total yield from the Gambling Levy itself; all of which goes directly to the Gambling Commission. However, the costing also accounts for a behavioural response to the measure whereby the Levy is expected to slightly reduce betting and gaming duty receipts; as is standard, the costing for the Gambling Levy shows the net impact on overall government receipts, including this behavioural adjustment. Because of this behavioural impact on betting and gaming duty receipts, the total additional funding forecast to be received by the Gambling Commission in the forecast period is slightly larger than the net revenue figure resulting from the announcement of the Gambling Levy.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the press release entitled £2 billion new investment to support biggest boost in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, published on 25 March 2025, what estimate she has made of the number of (a) social and (b) affordable homes that will be built in Bedfordshire in the 2026-27 financial year.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 44049 on 22 April 2025.

Pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2025 to Question 35856 on Railways: Standards, which stations in (a) England and (b) Bedfordshire are most impacted by cancelling stops to make services run faster; and on how many weekdays in 2024-25 one or more cancellations have happened at each of those stations.

Data on cancellations is published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) on their data portal which can be accessed here: https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/Data showing the punctuality of trains at individual stations across England is available for the first time ever on a periodic basis. The statistics cover over 1,700 stations and also show reliability of services. This service can be accessed here: https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/performance-at-stations The available data identifies specific stations, but it does not provide cancellation reasons nor on which days cancellations occurred.Cancellations can be frustrating to passengers, especially when made at short notice. The department expects train operators to recover services as quickly as possible and minimize impact upon passengers. Ministers are meeting with managing directors of Train Operating Companies and Network Rail to address poor performance and demand immediate action to raise standards.